What should the rival entity be called?

[HolyCow]

I'm tempted to use "Macrospatial Omnipotent Existence" XD

MOE ftw!

[onizuka-gto]

The options changed.

Democracy at it's finest...
=Smidge=

Doesn't always work, but its the thought that counts...


As for the MOE choice...

I certainly like the irony of it.

[dod13]

This "entity" is a series of tubes...

LOL

[PrufrocktheFungus]

Isn't 広域帯 supposed to mean "broadband"? I don't know about Japan, but here in Korea, we use both 広帯域 and 広域帯 as meaning broadband, and seeing as Korea still tends to borrow most of its academic terminology from Japanese, I think I have a fairly good chance in being right when I say the author meant "broadband" by 広域帯.

Choosing "broadband" as the translation of 広域帯 also seems to be the best way of capturing the characteristics of this "rival entity" in its name. Since the entity in question is a "data entity", which does not exist physically, it would be better to use a word that conveys a sense of its "macrospatiality" in the "data world", rather than one that carries a connotation of physical vastness. The dictionary.com definition of "broadband" is given as, "of, pertaining to, or responsive to a continuous, wide range of frequencies." This word, then, does justice to the entity's non-physical qualities while still expressing its seeming omnipotence. Macrodementional and Macrospatial, on the other hand, are, terms pertaining to physical qualities which I keep saying the entity doesn't have, not even listed in any dictionary, redundant in themselves, and to be frank, rather cheesy (this is just an opinion, but to me, they sound like they've been made up only to sound good, and that makes them sound bad). Also, I keep seeing posts suggesting "quantum" to be added, but quantum actually means very very very small. Adding that would make the result rather endearing.

For 宇宙, I think Cosmic is better than universal, as the word "universal" holds many other meanings than the one desired, and may therefore cause confusion if used.

Also, I don't understand why 存在 should be translated into existence when used as in this case. The word "existence" usually isn't used to represent individual entities, but rather the state of being, or other universalities. There may be exceptions, but "E.T. was a kind existence" just doesn't sound right to me. If it can't be entity, then I'd rather opt for "being". Not so cool, maybe, but at least it makes sense.

Therefore, "Broadband Cosmic Being" has my vote. Please please at least consider this in your decision!! I won't be able to sleep well if you don't. Keep up the good work!

[HolyCow]

This has been debated on for quite some time already, and the name of the rival entity has already been decided some time ago, but oh well.

広域 means broad/vast/big. Since those terms, lack SF feel, have no "oomph" factor, sound like a service provider's ad and are generally boring, we chose to substitute them with a more wackier term, "Macrospatial", since it was the favorite choice after all. Although it sounds somewhat cheesy, if you look at it from another angle you'll find that its just some random gibberish - Just like the IDSE - that fits the theme of the story quite well. And IMO Broadband sounds even worse that Macrospatial.

帯 means band, as in energy band. I can see how putting 広域帯 together gives you "broadband", but if you separate them, you'll notice that 帯 has a meaning on its own. Instead of using Energy, we have chose to use "Quantum" since it sounds better and again makes it sound somewhat long and lengthy.

Seeing that you agree with "Cosmic' for 宇宙 I shall skip this and go on.

存在 is literally Existence, and I feel that it fits the context the most. With IDSE being "Entity", choosing "Existence" for the MQCE would be appropriate as it is different from "Entity" but also somewhat similar in fashion. this gives it the "so similar but yet so different" fell to both of them. Also, since it is just a bunch of data/energy/whatever and doesn't have a physical body anyways (a conclusion based on what we've heard about so far), I think being would be inappropriate. IMO being is something that you can touch and see, or at least that's how I've always interpreted it. Existence sounds more mysterious, something that you know exists, something that you can only feel. Or maybe that's just me.

Anyhow, this subject has already been throughly debated and a conclusion reacher. I thank you for your contribution but unless there's a contradictory statement in the future, our decision on the name of the rival entity will remain somewhat final.

Oh and sleep well

[ellimist]

you're right Holycow...it's a lengthy debate indeed lol. Anyway, here's my input:

Astronomical amalgamate cosmic existence?
Infinite quantum cosmic existence?
Cosmogonic/Planetary is also possible XD

I am, of course, fully aware of the fact that the poll is LONG closed, but, to quote the following statement from you:

unless there's a contradictory statement in the future

so this is nothing more than something else you can use and take into consideration IF something like what you've said (see quote) happens to happen in future

p.s. did i mention i have a friend who happens to be a time-traveller?

[HolyCow]

By contradictory statement I mean that if in some future volume the MQCE suddenly shows up and proves us wrong by being some form of energy instead of data then maybe we'll consider changing the name.

Heck, we don't even know what its comprised of anyway. It could be energy for all we know it

[ellimist]

yep, i know what you meant. Hence my contribution in case such a thing happens

[PrufrocktheFungus]

Well you're the guys in charge and I was just humbly submitting an idea, so no hard feelings (as if!). In fact, I'm a bit overwhelmed at getting such an immediate and kind response. Thnx very much for the attention and respect you showed even though I was long late in joining the debate.

I just thought that broadband would have been the author's choice if he wrote in English, since it's an actual term that you can see used pretty often in newspaper articles about IT, and it's easier to assume that the author would have used a word he's actually familiar with. It goes well with SF, too, being an IT jargon. Although, as you say, the names of the entities do seem to supposed to be just random gibberish emanating an SFish aura, so it really doesn't matter.

Well, I'll be keeping up on your translations, especially since a translation for book 8 isn't available in Korea yet. And thanks again for the kindness -- I can hope now that Nagato-chan will visit my dreams tonight .

[HolyCow]

Heh you're welcome. Thanks for your support and contribution, and good night

P/S: Why wish for Yuki to appear in your dreams? If it were me I'd prefer Rena over Yuki anytime ;P

P/P/S: Why don't you register for an account and join the boards? It's better than having to type in some lousy identification code whenever you want to post

[Sin.]

Lol..... 広域帯宇宙存在 sounds like outer quantum existence